Students of remakes should check out this version of the popular Rogers-Hammerstein musical. It made so many choices which at the time you can understand why they did it and probably seemed like the right choices to make but brought together it never quite works. You might say 1962 was too late for this sort of material but 1963 saw The Flower Drum Song become a hit and 1965 of course saw The Sound of Music. You might argue they shouldn't have updated it but there was plenty of popular contemporary corn flowing around - the Tammy movies and so on. Jose Ferrer isn't known today as a great director, but in 1962 he'd just made the reasonably popular Return to Peyton Place for Fox, and a couple of reasonably regarded other films (e.g. Cockleshell Heroes), and had directed a number of musicals on stage.
And the casting would have all seemed spot on - Pat Boone was a natural choice to play the farm boy (indeed, he's fine, much better than Dick Haymes in the 1945 version); Ann Margaret had just been launched with Pocketful of Miracles and a sizzling performance at the Oscars, so seemed logical to play the "vamp"; Pamela Tiffin (in the sweet pea part) was fresh off a strong, funny debut performance in One Two Three; Bobby Darin was a big name with some hit films behind him and would have seemed ideal; Tom Ewell fine for the parents and good old Alice Faye making a comeback as ma. They added some car racing for Boone but I don't think that makes much difference.
Nope, the only real mistake I can see that they should have picked up at the time was relocating the story to Texas - there is something inherently Americana about it being in Iowa, whereas Texas has always come across as a more independent, maverick state. It's not a cute state like Iowa - there is less corn, more cactus. It's also wider - indeed the whole film feels more "spread out" than the 1945 version: instead of a carnival there's a race track, Ann Margaret's numbers are a lot more elaborate than Vivien Blaine's, etc - which means the intimate, cosy feel of the earlier film has gone.
Anyway, the film doesn't work and in hindsight the biggest reason is the cast: Tom Ewell's speciality was urban disaffected businessmen (e.g. Seven Year Itch), he doesn't feel rural in the way Charles Winninger or Will Rogers did; ditto Alice Faye as mom - instead of going "that's loveable old mom" you keep going "that's old Alice Faye making a comeback"; Tiffin is pretty and I like her in other films but feels too modern here (her speciality was wacky spoilt rich girls e.g. Harper, One Two Three) - she's certainly not as perfectly cast as Jeanine Crain; studios always tried-Ann Margret as a vamp (e.g. Kitten with a Whip, Stagecoach) but she was better (and more popular) as the girl next door (Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas) - she also feels too young for a role which requires someone with a bit more experience on her, in the eyes at least; Bobby Darin is just plain sleazy where Dana Andrews was merely sharp, and the Darin-Tiffin chemistry isn't very strong.
Apparently this was the first film where Pat Boone had a screen kiss - he certainly made the most of it, with his shirt off lounging on Ann Margaret's lap. Way to go, Pat!
No comments:
Post a Comment